{ 


_ OUR PUBLIC LIBRARIES 
Does North Carolina read? ? 
- Does North Carolina believe in own- 
ing automobiles? 
Does North Carolina believe in hav-_ 
‘ ing good roads? 
_ All three of these questions, put to 
'/ the average North Carolinian a dozen 
ts ei ago, would have begn answered 
"instantaneously in the affirmative. But 
~ in all three instances the answer would | 
Jhave been accompanied by a mental | 
reservation implying that books, auto-, 
‘mobiles, and roads were, after all, the 
- luxuries or the hobbies of rich people 
or visionaries. Like book-farming, they 
were held in but slight regard and cer- 
| tainly were not.considered as tools to 
| be used by the average man for real 
' assistance in the work of the world. 
~ Qn March 31, 1922, three months be-| 
_ fore the registration year closed, North | 
Carolinians owned 148,527 automobiles, 
approximately one automobile for every 
‘single book in the public libraries of| 
North Carolina. Or, one automobile 
housed in a garage for every book shelvy- 
*ed ina public library! And there is: 
‘not,a farmer in the State who does not) 
eonsider -his. Ford an indispensable 
' means to promote the welfare of his). 
household and farm. To him his ma-| 
| ehine is not a luxury. It is an absolute 
_ necessity! 
And so with good reads. They ‘cost. 
money, piles of it, millions of it. But 
2 they are worth every penny they cost 
- and more, and everybody knows it. 
They are the solid realities over which 
| an awakened State moves to a higher, 
plane of civilization. : 
But so far, books remain in the lux- 
ury class. North Carolina, by and 
large, has not recognized them as tools | 
to be utilized like automobiles and, 
- good roads in building a finer. civiliza-| 
tion. ; 


rm: 


| 
} 


} 


{ 


Books are Tools | 

‘Lawyers require books to try cases. 
Highway engineers plot curves and | 
- grades with instruments and engineer- 
- ing handbooks. Doctors read journals 
to keep informed concerning the pre, 
ii gress of surgery and medicine. Teach- | 
_ ers study books in order to be better 


t 


< 


S. : ‘the list ‘with 1978, or 35 times as many! 4" 


SEPTEMBER 13, 1922 


| primary, fundamental economic 


| ‘ £ states by Arkansas) 
the sisterhood of sta j/its package libra: 


- : aa ; Se 
on ate HILL, N, GC. 


DOES NORTH CAROLINA READ 


And as aresult they are standing in} 


the way of their own advancement not 
only in the broader fields of educational 
and cultural development, but in the 
con- 
cern of winning bread and butter. 

For books are tools for getting a- 
head, a fact which the directors of the 


“highly organized automobile and cotton 
‘industries of Detroit and Worchester 


have recognized, and which North Ca- 
rolinians and Southerfiérs must also re- 
alize if they make all they should out 
of the wonderful resources they pos- 
sess. 

- The laboratory and the hbrary com- 
bined must be brought to bear upon 
the soil, the orchards, the forests, the 
streams, the cotton in boll and lint, if 
they yield the State, rather than New 
England or some other section, the toll 
which failure to utilize them will in- 
evitably entail, as has already been 


| true in the case of cotton seed oil, fer- 


tilizers, and finishing mill industries. 
Books in this sense are tools, and the 
State that fails to use them will inevi- 
tably pay tribute to those that do. 


What Statistics Show 


But does North Carolina read? 

North Carelina bought more books 
per capita in 1855 than in 1920. 

This statement, made in the summer 
of 1921 hy the head of a New York pub- 
lishing firm which has been in business 
for nearly a century, does not tell. the 
whole story about North Carolina’s 
reading habits. No statement can; for 
the necessary statistics covering the 
subject are not available and they can- 
not be assembled. 

But it tells something. It tells the 
same story which Nerth Carolina auth- 
ors hear when they seek a publisher 
for manuscripts which have only. a lo- 
cal, state appeal; namely, that North 
Carolina is one of the poorest book 
markets in the forty-eight states. It 
harmonizes with the fact recently given 
wide publicity in Schools and Society, 
the Library Journal, and the Universi- 


eae Ar eee ee 
ty News Letter, that North Carolina) 


had in her public libraries two years a> 
go only 144,204 volumes, or 56 to every! 


1000 inhabitants, 
she was saved from the disgrace 0 
standing at the foot of the column 0 


‘with 36, while New Hampshire toppe 


in which particular 


Saye - 

The statement is also in keeping with 

the fact published in the June number | 

of the North Carolina Library Bulletin, | 
{ 


having populations of from 2,000 to 48, - 
000 have public libraries, and that the 
State contained only 64 public and semi- 
public libraries for all of itsmore than 
two million and a half inhabitants, or 
an average of one library to every 40,- 
000 inhabitants. . Furthermore, thirty 
of these 64 libraries reported incomes 
for all purposes ranging from $16.95 
to $950.17, and the 64, plus three color- 
ed branches, reported a total income of 
only $88,031—the price of 170 Fords, or 
59 Buicks, or approximately 3.25 cents 
per man, waman, and child for all 
North Carolina. Winston, with a popu- 
lation of 48,395 led with $8861—a per | 
capita expenditure of eighteen cents, 
whereas the standard recommended by | 
the American Library Association is' 
$1 or five times as much. Charlotte, | 
Raleigh, and Greensboro had library | 
incomes above $8000; Asheville and) 
| Durham received $7445 and $6757 res- 
pectively. The grand total. spent for | 
books by the entire 64 public libraries | 
of North Carolina was $22,162 for the, 
2,550,123 inhabitants of the state. 
Small Circulation 
The statement tells something more. 

A State which does not buy beoks does | 
not read books. Only 85,882 North Car-. 
olinians were registered as borrowers, 
of these 67 libraries, an average of one | 
person inevery 30 in the State, and} 
the total circulation of the 213,408 vol-. 
umes in the libraries amounted to only | 
727,905, or slightly more than three: 
readers per volume. Asheville, with aj 
book collection. of 10,949 and a popula- 
tion of 28,504, circulated 99,218 vol-) 
umes, the largest total for any North’ 
Carolina city, which, when bape 
the standard turnover of five per ; 


that only 35 of the 62 towns in the State 


“eapl- | 
ta should have been 142,520. - Concord, | 
with 48378 volumes and a population of 
9903, circulated 51,729, thereby win- 
ning from Burlington by the narrowest | 

fablishing the 


sort of margin and esta 


loaned a total of 15 


jort of straw. 4. 
Local Authors Fare Badly 
_ Miss Nell Battle Lewis, writing re- 
cently in the News and Observer about 
‘North Carolina’s failure to produce out- 
_standing names in the fields of litera-| 
‘ture and art, might have said. that no| 
local authors work save those of O.| 
‘Henry and Tom Dixon (local by cour- | 
tesy, as their work was done elsewhere) 
‘had broken into the class of what the 
‘Bookman styles best sellers. Informa- 
tion concerning sales of publications by 
local authors is extremely difficult to 
‘secure. But except in the case of 
books placed on the school lists no book 
published in the last ten years, has, so 
‘far as I can discover, reached the 10,- 
000 mark attained by Wheeler’s History 
‘of North Carolina in the fifties, which, 
iby the way, was the period mentioned 
‘py the New York publisher. Hamil- 
‘ton’s Reconstruction in North Carolina, 
‘a serious piece of historical writing 
covering possibly the most interesting 
period of history in the life of the State, 
“stopped selling at the 250 mark. Dr. 
'E. C; Brooks in three years sold an 
edition of 1200 copies of his compila- 
‘tion of North Carolina Poems. Educa- 
tion and Citizenship, the memorial vol- 
ume of addresses by the late President 
Edward Kidder Graham, in spite of 
the fact that there were from 10,600 to 


12,000 living alumni of the University 
‘and thousands of North Carolinians” 


who held him in highest esteem, reach- 
ed a total sale of only 1500 copies. 
/Songs Merry and Sad, and Lyrics from 
Cotton Land, by MeNeill, and Idle 
Comments, by Avery, ran through two 
| editions of 1000 each. Where Half the 
| World js Waking Up, an interesting 
book of travel by Dr. Clarence Poe, 
| and backed by the advertising depart- 
| ment of the widely circulated Progres- 
‘sive Farmer, reached 3000 sales and 
\then stopped still; while Connor and 
| Poe’s Life and Addresses of C. B. Ay- 
lcock, the friend and idol of untold 
| thousands of his fellow citizens, reach- 
‘ed a total of 5000, or one half the num- 
| ber of the copies of Wheeler’s History 
| sold back in the fifties. _ 


ae Current Boolis 


atisties for current books by out- 
riters are difficult to secure, The 


oro Daily News recently noted 


V of new pooks. . 


sales of four of th 
|| books of recent year: 
| representative book deal 
in seven North Carolin 
damaging testimony. — ne 
Main Street, by Lewis & 
History, by Wells; The Heonomic | 
sequences of Peace, bys Keynes; 
Winter Comes, by Hutchinson. 
Main Street - Asheville 800;  Char-. 
lotte 250; Winston 100; Greensboro 250; 
'| Durham 50; Raleigh 200; Wilmington 
| 30; total 1180. ney aS Nae a 
Outline of History - Asheville 25; 
Charlotte 45; Winston 1, Greensboro 
50; Durham 15; Raleigh 100; Wilming- 
ton 3; total 289. Ga ene ees 
Economic Consequences of Peace - 
'| Winston 1; Wilmington 2; none sold_by 
‘the dealers reporting im Asheville, 


\ 


=] 


Charlotte, Greensboro, Durham, of 
leigh. ‘botalo.. 0% gta 
Rae Winter Comes - Asheville 125; 


Charlotte 250; Winston 50; Greensboro. 
100; Durham 25; Raleigh 200; Wilming- 
ton 34, total 784. re cae 
Obviously, these are not complete. 
records. Yet they are the partial rec- 
ords of seven of the cee representa- 
l tive communities of North Carolina | 
| whose book stores, public libraries, and | 
study clubs reach as high‘a state of or- 
ganization as can be found in the State 


and whose book buying habits are un- 
questionably far in advance of those of 
| village and rural sections whose book 
| stores and libraries are wanting and 
whose knowledge of the book marke 
slight. ua 


Size of Libraries — 

A year ago, while visiting th 
ries of Massachusetts, I made the dis- 
covery that a city like Salem, Massa- 
chusetts, with a population of 42,5% 
had a public library of 70,000 
an association or subscription libre 
30,000 volumes, a scientifie 2 
120,000 books and 405,000 
phamphlets, and a law law 
30,000 volumes. I found th 
city of Salem, with its 100,( 
in its public and associati 
had 10,000 volumes more th 


-praries of Asheville, Wi 
‘lotte, Durham, Greensboro, 1] 
and Wilmington (89,033); that i 
‘library of 30,000 volumes was ' 

of the libraries of the Univers 

School and the Supreme Cour 
'Cerolina combined; and thatit 
ic library (the library of the E 
stitute) contained approxin 

000 more catalogued ti if 
paces than all t 


f 


i 


3 B80 00. 


9664.49 


orate 


oriad 


Ha es ener, Of. 
_ Presbyterian Chureh a 
‘Duke | Duke ji : 
i » ———séPubilie 8 6757.51 
: ‘Edenton  Shep.-Pruden Mem. 1025.36 
| Bayetteville Civic Association =i (ast 
{Franklin 1 PPRUDLIC croc, « FR 
i Gastonia a “Publi. ae re oareo ea 
"| Goldsboro ‘Public 3390). oe 
i Bae easberos. Public 8 8341.41 
Greenville | Public 1 anne 
Vidamleb ak. S.A. be le a 
Pondexsonville y. Publics: 1217.89 
| Hickory @ rable s: Hpi te 
|Highlands . Hudson =. = 126.88 
\Hillsbero1.-= Hillsboro .-- - >. 
‘Hadson _ Dixie ; 45.51 
‘Kinston . «Publie=, 908.30 
Ledger  —s—iws« Goto - Will Free — 50.00 
‘MeAdenville R.Y. McAden Mem.1 so 
| Marion — _ Florence Tho.Mem. = 142.17 
Moutteat Cora A, Stone Mem. 56.41. 
‘Mooresville Free © : - 324.50 
‘New Bern | Library Assoc. 1161.23 
Niagara Webster Public 1 16.93. 
Oriental - - Woman’s Club | 
Oxford! a5. *. Oxford Sub. 233.50 
Pinehurst —S——Pinehurst- 271.30 
| Raleigh Olivia Raney 8435.46 
‘Reidsville © —- Public 1 200.00 
Hocmehent Public 1200.00 
Rocky Mount = Public 2580.00 
Rowland a2. Public 838.42 
Rutherford Col. Carnegie 426.75 
Rutherfordton Rutherfordton 
‘Salisbury © -Publied os 300.00. 
Saluda ive ‘Julia F. Goelet Mem.1 
‘Sanford ne — Sanford BS: Sey 
‘Scotland Neck | Public 866.04 
‘Shelby — gts Public — ; 569.25 
‘Smithfield Women’s : Club 
‘Southern oe - Southern Pines” DAWA) ae 
peauvapent: Public 217.15 
‘Spencer ~ Bes. M.U. A a 
‘ - Women’s ( x, ee 


Edgecomb Pub. 


: 367 


pee 
999 


630 4675 Ree 
lia 16995. 318 


4983" - 
Soa et 


aye 2198 


1183 
150( 


129 
416 
278 


oS ae TT 


i 


Fe + a 


anes 
ie 


= 


” 


ee ng 


~~ SCHOOL LIBRARIES 

Sir Francis Bacon, in his essay on 
Studies, said that reading makes the} 
full man. If he had been called on to 


offer an illustration applicable to pres- 
_ent day life, he probably would have 
‘said that reading on part of the aver- 


age voter would enable him, when he 
talked politics, to discuss the princi- 
ples of public issues rather than the 
personalities of candidates who hap- 
pened to be running for office. 


' Inasmuch as reading, in the Bacon- 


jan sense, makes the full man, 
_order to ask what North Carolina | 
doing in this particular for the 850,000 


it is in 
is 


_ children who are of the proper age to 


_ attend her common schools, 
or more pupils enrolled in her high | 
' schools, and the 10,009 students enroll- 


taining an average of 85 volumes, 


the 40,000 


ed in her 32 colleges. 


Rural School Libraries 


Prior to March 1901, the common 


schools had, practically speaking, no 
in OF Newspapers. 


1901 provision was made for the estab- 


books. By legislative enactment 
lishment of $30 original libraries con- 
and 
later $15 supplementary libraries con- 
taining 35 volumes. On November 30, 
1920, the last date for which statistics 
are available, there were 4960 of the 
original libraries, containing a total of | 


approximately. 421,600 volumes and, 
_ costing $148,800, and 2331 of the sup- | 
_ plementary libraries, containing 81,565) 


volumes and costing $34,965. One half 
of the common schools of the state had! 
no libraries at all. That is, in the 
twenty years from 1901 to 1920, $183,-| 
768 was spent to acquire 503,165 books 


_ for one half of the school children of 
| the state to read. 
half have gone unprovided for 
| specific purpose except as they have 


To date, the other 
this 


drawn upon funds other than those ap- 


_ propriated by the state and counties. 


In addition to the fact that no pro- 
vision has been made for one half of 


_ the schools, it is also true that- failure 
_to provide the most ‘Careful sort of 
oversight has resulted in many instan-' 


es in only their partial use. Question- 


rs naires covering the white schools of 
| Orange, Guilford, and Wayne counties: 


the following situa- 
Ok RR 


[s “DOES NORTH CAROLINA READ? 


Orange County 


Gs 
FE 
| Of 48 white schools. in Orange, in- 
cluding the graded schools of Chapel 


ries whatever, and the 1586 pupils en- 
rolled have access to a total of 3692 
volumes, or slightly more than two 
books per pupil. Highteen of the 41 
libraries are open only during the ses- 
sion. In answer to the direct question 
How much are the books used during 


term time, ten out of the 25 teachers]! 
answering responded, Not very much!) 


One high school spent $150 for new 
books. Three other schools spent $10, 


| $20, and $5 respectively for new books. 


The other 44 spent nothing. Four 
schools subscribed for a total of 23 
newspapers and magazines, 
44 for none. Practically every teacher 
reported the presence of some books | 


- | in the homes of the pupils, but one con- 


cluded the questionnaire with the com- 


|ment that the patronsseemed to take 


searcely any interest in schools, books, 


Guilford County 
- In Guilford county 70 schools report- | 
ing 73833 pupils enrolled. The city 
'schools of Greensboro were not includ- 


ed. . Forty-six of the schools taught 
| only the first seven grades; 24 taught 
from three to four grades of high 
school subjects. Sixty-two of the 70 
| had libraries with a total of 8,975 vol- 
umes. Only 25 of the libraries were 
‘open in the summer, 29 reported a 
monthly total circulation of 1165 or 40 
_volumes per school, and only $743.15 or | 
' ten cents per pupil was spent for new 


‘books during the year. Twenty schools 


possessed an enclyclopedia, 27 an una- 
| bridged dictionary, and 15 subscribed 
‘for newspapers and magazines. The 
others lacked these indespensable aids 
to first class school work. Teachers in- 


Wayne County 
Forty-eight schools outside pf Golds- 


Hill and Hillsboro, seven have no libra- boro in Wayne county reported 3331) 


pupils enrolled. orty-five possessed 
libraries totaling 4041 volumes, and 24} 
were open in the summer. Fourteen 


schools reported a total monthly circu- 
lation of 254 volumes or an average of |) 
18 per school per month. Nineteen , 
schools reported efforts to improve} 
their libraries, a total of $195.10 having 
Nine |) 
schools owned an encyclopedia, 26 an|' 
‘unabridged dictionary, and 13 subscrib-| 
‘ed for periodicals. Forty of the teach- | 


‘béen raised for this. purpose. 


ers reported the presence of papers 
and magazines in the homesof the pup-/ 


the other ‘ils, and 37 the presence of books. | 


| for their steady adequate. upbuilding. 


HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARIES. 


Figures for high school libraries in 
North Carolina are practically non-ex- 
istent. No special fund other than 
that for the $30 and $15 libraries has 
been appropriated by the state and 
counties for the purchase of books for 
high school libraries, and as a result no 
i record has been kept by the state ‘de- 
partment of Education. The latest 
statistics by the United States Bureau 
of Education were issued in 1915 and} 
consequently are entirely out of date. 
Schools here and there have secured 
funds for books in various ways, but} 
no permanent policy has been provided 


Only in 1921 was the standard, of 800. 
volumes for junior high schools and 500} 
volumes for senior high schools set by 

‘the State Educational Department as al 
pre-requisite to being placed in the clas: 5 

of accredited schools, and an adequate 
list prepared by the State High School 
‘{nspector from which the books could 
be selected. ae Sak aA ie aoe. 


‘dicated the presence of books and pa- 


pers in the majority of homes, and a 
“number of schools reported the use of 
library material from the public liprary 
at Greensboro which maintains a county 
“service. 


facilities submitted to 100 Freshmen in 
the University in 1921-22. Of the 100 
Freshmen, 96 replied that they had the 
use of some form of library in high 
school. Four had not, Seventy-six re- 
| ported the presence of reference books 
fin the school library. Eighty-five had 
laceess to an encyclopedia or unabridged 
dictionary, fifty-eight to an atlas, and 
‘thirty-nine, through their connection 
‘with the High School Debating Union, 


‘had used package library material from | 
the University Library and twenty-six | 
from the North Carolina Library Com-| 


mission. Only 83 had had access to a 
public library, had learned how to use 
a dictionary card catalogue, and were 
able on the first day of their college 
career, to use the tools which a great 
‘eollege library places at the disposal of 
‘its students. To the other 67 the card 
‘eatalogue, the pericdical indexes, the 
bibliographical works, the whole libra- 
‘ty, in fact, around which their college 
work should revolve, was an unkpown 
quantity. These 67 presented the nec- 
essary 15 units in English, history, sci- 
ence, and language. But the funda- 
mental unit, the unit of knowing how 
‘to use a well-equipped modern library, 
‘they, and their less fortunate high 
‘school classmates who stayed at home 
‘and whose future self-education is al- 
most-entirely dependent upon the use 
of what Carlyle called the peoples’ uni- 
versity—the public library—they failed 
to acquire. 

eh ok Beginning Made 

With Winston and Durham and Wil- 
son high schools, to mention three lead- 


ing high schools out of the 474 high 
schools of the State, putting trained 
librarians in theif high schools in Sep- 
tember for the first time, with the high | | 


school lists and standards adopted only 
within the last twelve months, and 
with no fixed fund from which a mini- 
mum of fifty cents per high school pu- 
pil per year can be drawn for high 
school books—the standard expenditure 


adopted by the National Education Asso-} 


ciatio#, North Carolina has far to go 
to put her high school libraries on a 
proper foundation. Fortunately she is 
beginning to see the goal, but the race 
is yet to be run and won. . 


COLLEGE LIBRARIES 


"The plight of North Carolina colleges _ 


in general was set forth in these col- 


‘ums and those of the State press in 19- 
20-21, Asituation was therein presen- 
ted which aroused the citizenship of 
‘the state as it had not been aroused 
‘since the passage of the constitutional 


amendment in 1900, with the result 


eae 


__ How deplorable the situation has been | |) 
was indicated by the answers to a/ 
lquestionnaire concerning high school || 


ey. 


‘}erously to the support of public and 
private institutions alike. 
Books Lacking 

But emphasis in the campaign had to 
be placed on dormitories and dining 
rooms and classroom buildings to house 


X 


profited, to be sure, as the result of 


education in North Carolina. 


Annual Additions 
From the table appearing elsewhere 


Carolina Library Bulletin for June, 19- 
22, there were 416,353 volumes in the 


the State Library, and the Library of 
'| the Supreme Court, and 27,960 were. in 
the libraries of six colored institutions. 
|The grand total was 444,313 volumes. 
These same institutions added a total 
|| of 25,479 new books during the year 
{and regularly received 2807newspapers | 
and periodicals of a permanent nature. | 
No statistics of income and expendi- 
ture were given. Six of the instituti- 
ons added less than 100 volumes during 
the year. The actual figures were: 
from 16 to 62. Five added between 
101 and 200 volumes, nine between_ 201 
and 600, four between 601 and 1000, six 
between 1001 and 2000, one between ' 
2001 and 8000, and one over 8000.5 That 
is, the grand total of the whole lot, in- 
jeluding State Library and Supreme 
i Court, was only 25,479, a total less by 
'|505 than the 25,984 added to the library- 
of the University of California alone. 
| The Library of ‘the University of Mich- | 
,igan came within 26 of the total, Yale 
doubled it, and Harvard with 73,100 
| volumes practically trebbled it! 


Total Collections Small — 


Not only are the annual additions 
small but the collections to which they , 
are added are far too limited. 
16 volumes to a collection which at the | 

'| end of the year totals only 2014 is quite | 


‘| tion which at the end of the year totals! 
| 59,000, or 25,453, in the case of Michi- | 
gan, to an exclusive total of 457,847. 

As compared with the libraries of 


colleges and universities in the North 
and West, the libraries of these North 
Carolina institutions are fearfully out- 
distanced. Wesleyan University, the 
| Methodist college of Connecticut, had 


libraries of 26 North Carolina colleges,\ 


EE EI IE a nett 
125,100 volumes in 1921. Haverford Col- 
lege, the Friends college of Pennsyl- 
vania, ‘had 80,000; the State Normal 
College of Michigan had 46,000; the. 
State Agricultural College of Iowa had 
80,000; the Wellesly and Smith, two 
colleges for women in Massachusetts, 
had 100,000 and 78,600 respectively, and 


the young men and women who were/||the collections at Johns Hopkins and 
knocking at the doors of the colleges | Princeton, not to mention the really 
rather than upon the upbuilding of | big collections of Columbia and Yale 
book and periodical collections in* the | and Harvard, ran well up beyond the 
libraries of the colleges. The libraries | quarter of a million mark. Hy 4 


In failing to have such. libraries. at 


the increased support; but as compared | their disposal North Carolina ‘students 
with those of institutions in other sec- | are missing one of the fundamental es- 
tions of the country they fall far short | Sentials to a well rounded education a 
of providing facilities adequate to the | fact which the state, the church, and. 
proper enrichment of the lives of the | Particularly wealthy private citizens” 
10,000 students now seeking a higher | Should see changed, and changed in- 


stantly. 


THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
The year 1921-22 has been the most 


in this issue taken from .the; North | distinctive in the history of the Uni- 


versity of North Carolina Library for 
the following five reasons: (1) One 
hundred and twenty-seven years after 


| the founding of the University and 222 
lyears after” the establishment of the 


first North Carolina ‘library at Bath, 
the Library reached the 100,000 volume 
mark, thereby sharing with Virginia 
and Texas the distinction of being one 
of the three university libraries im the 
South haying more than 100,000 vol-— 
umes; (2) It added 8634 new volumes 
during the year, or more than one third 


as many.as all the public libraries in 


the State combined; (38) It subscribed 


to 1005 magazines and learned journals; 


(4) It increased the titles in the North 


Carolina collection by 775 volumes and 


2109 pamphlets; and (5) It definitely 
set about studying plans for the erec- 
tion of anew library building which, 
when erected, will provide seminars’ 
for graduate study, special rooms for 
cataloguing and administration, equip- 


-'ment for mending and binding, space. 


for collection of maps, bound newspa- 
‘pers, and prints, cases for the exhibiz6 
tion of manuscripts and early forms of | 


To. Bat Pee library work, and will meet in every 


‘| different from adding 2047 fo a collec- | | 


printing, apparatus for photographing 
rare documents, rooms for the use of. 
investigators in the fields of North Ca-_ 
rolina and Southern history, space for 
_the training of teachers and librarians 


way the needs of a modern university. 
In three other respects the year was 

distinctive: (1) Its funds for books, © 
periodicals, and binding amounted to 
$22,500; (2) In the number of books 
received it equaled Johns Hopkins for 
the year 1920-21; and (3) During the. 
‘Summer School it circulated 16,892 vol- — 
umes, of which only 4 per cent were fic- 
tion, the per capita circulation for the 
(1845 students being 12.1 for the six 
weeks. cya FO oreo 


+ ee ae 


SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LIBRARIES __ 


| in North Carolina, in 1921-22. ey 

{| School or College Vols. Added ‘Total Vols. Periodicals 
Appalachian Training School 90 e7 RROR Dee 
Atlantic Christian College (1) 16 2014 25. 

| Concordia College 180 5279 

| Cullowhee Normal 676. 1046 23 


| Davidson College (2) 1340 - 19208 opie 

| E. C. Teachers College 192 2460 65° 
Elon College (1) . 251 9508 = No.8 108" 

| Flora McDonald College (1) 240 A876 
Greensboro College 307 8468 65. 

| Guilford College 298 8444 Hh Bal 
Lenoir College — : 890 8810 aur U: 

| Mars Hill College 158 bi ckOUT 30 

| Meredith College 1440 LO2SL se 106 

| Mbt. Pleasant Collegiate Inst. eae 4816 Pap 
Normal & Collegiate Inst. (1) ; 

| Normal & Indus. Inst. \ 92 Poe Sy a ROR AE 

| N. C. College for Women 1742 16817 —-* 199 
Peace Institute ; 3000 

| St, Genevieve-@f-the-Pines } 240 ASEQIANS cs 20 

|St. Marys’ School (1) . 200 4138 age: 

| Salem Academy and College 500 8164 60 

| State College of A. and E. 425 10790 188 

| State Library (8) Bre 49107 bi ee 

| State School for the Blind 100 1500 15 
Supreme Court (3) 497 23856 see 

| Trinity College t : 2047 59000 : 902 

| University of North Carolina _ 8634 108405 4 VOOR ar 

| Wake Forest College eee care 
Total 23,798 416,353 2,579 

| Albion Academy (colored) 1 300 2146 10°32 

| Biddle University (colored) 1 700 9354. 1355 
Agricultural and Tech. (colored) 1 115 2912 2.7: ieee 
| St. Augustine (colored) — 7000 i ge 
Shaw University (colored) 536 5866 25 
State Normal School (colored) _ 385 682 Gis a Ue 
Total (colored) 1,686 27,960 ps 
Grand total 25,479 444,813 | 2,807 


Footnotes;— 1. No.report received this year. 2. 10266 books were destroyed 4 
by fire, November, 1921. 3. Listed here for convenience. # 


SEPTEMBER 27, 1922 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. 


— 


DOES NORTH CARGLINA READ? 


NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION | 


When the New York publisher made 
| the statement that his firm sold more 
books per capita in North Carolina in 
the fifties than in 1920, he was om 
of books, not newspapers and maga 
zines. 
But what if he had included them? 
Could the same statement concerning 
\ them be substantiated? | 
Comparative statistics on this subject 
| are not available. The circulation fig- 
ures of several of the national week-., 


lies and monthlies and the state dailies) 


are available, however, and, whether 
the record back in the fifties was good 
or bad, the showing for North Carolina 
today is far from pleasing. Certainly 


North Carolina reads newspapers and 
But she fails utterly to 


magazines. 

read her quota. In the reading of daily 

newspapers, forty-four states make a) 

better showing.’ See the table else- 
| where in this issue. 


Unpleasant Facts 


Statistics published in 1921 by the 


' copy to every 41 and 22 inhabitants re- 


tants, North Carolina ranks 40th, with 
one copy to every 117, and Mississippi 
stands at the bottom with one copy to 
every 181 of her citizens. In the case 
of The Literary Digest and The Satur- 
day Evening Post, North Carolina ranks 
42nd and 46th respectively, while Cali- 
fornia leads in both instances with one 


spectively. 
Among Gurselves 


Coming closer home than California, 
North Carolina makes a poor showing 
among her’ immediate neighbors. In 
the case of The Ladies Home Journal | 
(the State makes its best showing in | 
its reading of this publication, thanks| 
to the women, rather thanin The Lit-| 

rary Digest and The Saturday Evening 
Baan North Carolina ranks 40th. Flor- 
ida (assisted by her: tourists, possibly) 
ranks.25th; Maryland, Missouri, Okla- 
homa, Virginia, and Texas also stand 
ahead of her, Tennessee equals her, 
and Kentucky, Arkansas, Georgia, 
South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, 
and Mississippi stand below her. 


circulation and advertising departments 
of The Ladies Home Journal, The Lit- 
‘erary Digest, and The Saturday Even- 
ing Post—three ‘of the most popular 
and widely disseminated journals of) 
the country—show that North Carolina 
stands near the foot of. the ladder in| 
her reading of these publications. — 
One North Carolinian out of every 
| 188 receives a copy of the Literary Di- 
gest, or did in 1921, while the average 
for the United States was one in every 
85. Only one person in 149 in North 
Carolina received a copy of The Satur- 
day Evening Post, against an average | 
of one in every 50 throughout the rest 
of the country. North Carolina postmas-. 


ters and news agencies delivered one. 
| counties. 


eopy of The Ladies Home Journal] toone 


_ person in 116, whereas their colleagues 
throughout the country did practi- | 
cally twice as big business. They hand- 


ed out a copy to an average of one out) 
of every 65 men, women, and children, 
which means, of course, that North 
_ Carolina, when measured by averages, 
receives less than one half her quota of 
these publications. Stated differently 
in the terms of rank among the forty- 
eight states, Oregon ranks first in the 
cireulation of The pated: pect. a9 our- 
nal with one copy to every 33 inhabi- 


. Inthe case of The Literary Digest 
Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, South 
Carolina, Kentucky,» and Mississippi 
fall below her, whereas in the case of 
The Saturday Evening Post all outrank 
her except Mississippi and South Caro- 
lina. 


County Quotas 


Coming still closer home, the analy- 
ses of circulations furnished by these 
three journals together with The Pro- 
gressive Farmer make clear the fur- 
ther fact that not all North Carolina 
counties read equally. The national 
advertiser who runs a page advertise- 
ment in The Literary Digest, for ex- | 
ample, does not have the same number 
per capita of readers in all of the 100 
Only 3 copies of this pulica- 
tion were received by or sold to resi- 
dents of Graham county during the 
week in April, 1921, when the audit 


| 


|one copy to every 13 inhabitants. Meck- 


was made. But even with that the 
| average of one copy to every 1624 in-|, 


habitants was higher than that of Alle- 
ghany with 4 copies distributed over a 
total population of 7403, or one copy to 
every 1850 inhabitants! Buncombe, on 
the other hand, with its 64,148 inhabi- 
tants, received 1454 copies, or one copy 
to every 44 inhabitants, and thereby 
led the State, while Mecklenburg, New 
Hanover, Pasquotank, and Wake fol- 
lowed in close order Rie 67, 70, and 
espectively. res. ce . ee ey 


Se 


Among the Farmers — 
An analysis of the circulation of The 
Progressive Farmer shows the same| 
thing, with the difference that the lead- 
ership passes from Buncombe to Ran- 
dolph. Randolph, with a total mailing 
list of 978 (at the time the audit was | 
made) led with one copy to every 31 in- 
habitants. Buncombe dropped to 88th 
position with one copy to every 117 in- 
habitants, and Alleghany, which was 
so inhospitable to The Literary Digest, 
moved up six places from the bottom 
to 94th, with one copy to every 160 of 
her citizens, yielding the cellar position 
to Dare with a total of twelve copies 
to a population of 5115, or one paper to 
every 426. 


Combined Circulation | 


Analyses of the circulations of single} 
papers, however, donot give an ade-— 
quate picture of what North Carolina 
counties read. Consequently, the com- 
bined circulation of The Literary Di- 
gest, The Ladies Home Journal, The 
Saturday Evening Post and the Pro- 
gressive Farmer is given in a table 
appearing in another issue. Togeth- 
er, they give a cross-section pic- 
ture of North Carolina reading never 
given before, and one which should re- 
ceive the careful study of everyone in- 
terested in the economic as well as the | 
social and cultural development of ane | 
state. S 

From even a most ipertbial study : 
of this picture, two facts are distinctly 
clear. North Carolina is not reading 
her quota of the standard journals of 
the country; and the counties which do 
not contain large cities, with highly or- 
ganized public libraries, book stores, and 
news stands, read far less than those|} 
that have these facilities. _ 

Buncombe, with a total of 5000 copies 
of the four papers combined, leads with 
the highest per capita circulation of 


lenburg has the greatest total, 5310, 
but ranks 8rd, being outdistanced by 
New Hanover with.a total of 2967, or 
‘one paper to every 15 people. Forsyth, 
in spite of the fact that it contains the 
largest city in the state, is outranited 
by 16-counties, gS aie. “a lib 


“ a? 
“SAG 
st 


al. 


99th, ee 1006 Pouene ihe 4872 in- 
habitants of Graham achieving the dis- 
tinction of receiving 1 copy of The. La- 
dies Home Journal, 2 copies | of’ The 
Saturday Evening Post, 3 copies of The 
Literary Digest; and 20 of The Pro- | 
gressive Farmer—26° copies all told, or 
one to every 187 inhabitants. 

_.Two other observations might be 
imade. ‘North Carolina country areas || 
are largely unaware of what the rest. 
‘of the world is thinking about, so far 
as it is reflected in the magazines of 
the day; and the high average for 
| Buncombe and Moore counties (in which 
the principal tourists resorts of North 
Carolina are located) may be due to the 
visitors rather than home-stayers! 


i 


State Papers 


Few generalizations can be made con- 
cerning the reading of state papers by 
| North Carolinians, as no analysis of cir- 
| culations is available except by towns. 
|The Greensboro Daily News, Charlotte 
Observer, News and Observer, North 
Carolina Christian Advocate, Biblical 
Recorder, Charity and Children, Orph- 
an’s Friend, and The News Letter 
have mailing lists running from about 
17,500 to 27, 500: 

With few exceptions copies of these 
are received by subscribers in all of 
the 63 towns in the State having a popu- 
lation of 2000 ormore. In that sense 
they are statewide, and counting five 
readers to each copy, the average read- 
ing public for these publications is from 
87,500 to 187,500. The Progressive 
Farmer and.the North Carolina Health 
Bulletin with North Carolina mailing. 
lists of approximately 50,000 each, are 
|read by about 250,000 of the population, 
‘or one person in ten. 


State Dailies 


But in one instance comparisons are 
possible. The Editor and Publisher of 
June 10, 1922, prints the total circula- 
tion of all the dailies, both morning and 
| Evening, throughout the United States. 
{On April 1, 1922, North Carolina’s 9 
morning and 27 evening papers were 
circulating 188,781 copies, or One copy 
to every 13.5 inhabitants. Massachu- 
| setts led the country with a total circu- 
|lation of 1,971,110, or one copy to every 
1.9inhabitants. The average for the 
United States was 3.6 inhabitants per 
subscriber. North Carolina ranked 
145th. South Carolinaand New Mexico 
stood immediately below North Caro- 
lina with 15.2 and 16.9 respectively, 
while Mississippi plumbed the depths of 
| apparent adult illiteracy with only one 
SPP, to page Ay Sap haha wnat 


——— oe ORL toe 


a ae eo 


1918, forty-tw | 
counties of California had established H 
| county libraries under the state’ library 
jlaw. Of the 42, thirty- -eight rece red. 
458, contained 945, 856 volumes, main: 


11549 school districts. 


| 


enn mnENES 
aoe 
a 


ly 1, 


an annual maintenance fund of $58 ab 


tained 2890 jranch libraries, and served 
Every. library 
‘was directed by a certificated librarian, ; 
and the whole system had the benefit 
of expert library supervision. ed 

In 1919-20, the state of Wis : ; 
required every high school to employ 
a library- -trained teacher to have charge 
of the high school library. ena 


| —— 


| DAILY NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION : 
On April 1, 1922, as perthe Editor and Publisher June 10, 1922 _ 


Covering (1) the combined circulation of dailies published in éach state, and 
(2) the number of inhabitants per subscriber. 


” 


] 


The total for the United States was 29,198,665, or 3.6 inhabitants per sub- 
oe f ci 
1) InN. C. the combined circulation of our 36 dailies was 188,781, or 18.5 in- — 
Prabivants per subscriber. Forty-four states made a better showing, and 10 of : 
|| these were southern states—namely, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, 
Louisiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas, in the order 
named. : 
L. R. Wilson, Librarian, University of North Carolina 


Total Inhabs. h Total «EA 
Rank ‘States Cireulation per paper Rank States Circulation per paper 
- Massachusetts LOT 1L0 1.9|25 Delaware 39,870 5.5 
New York 4,978,329 2.0126 Florida 172,103 5.6 
California _ 1,542,202 2.2127 Maine 132, 229 5.8 
Oregon 318, 728 2.4}27 Oklahoma $46,655 «BB 
Missouri 1,348, 503 2.51/29. Texas 778, 760 p.9°* 
Illinois 2,471,603 2.6130 Tennessee 886,193 6.0 
Ohio 2,182,532 2.71} 381 Montana 84,776 6.45 
Washington 471,493  2.8|82 Vermont 52,895 ° 6.6” 
Pennsylvania 2,890, 857 3.0 | 33 New Hampshire 65, 987 6.7. 
Rhode Island 188,972 3.1134 Wyoming 26,534 7.3 
Colorado 291,571 8.2135 Louisiana 242,362 ca 
Maryland : 487, 502 3.31386 Kentucky 307, 561 7.8 
Indiana 853,161 38.4487 Virginia 282,105 8.1 
Minnesota 691,197 8.41388 Idaho 52, 407 O2u 
Michigan 1,028,392 8.5 | 389 South Dakota 75,263 8.4 
~Connecticut 363,949 3.7} 40° West Virginia 171, 782 EBS 
_ Nebraska - 340,028 3.8]41 Georgia 311,638, 912 
Iowa 614, 663 3.9} 42 Alabama 220,442 10.6 . 
Utah 97,786 4.5|43 North Dakota 58,911 10.9 
Nevada 16,074 4.8|44 Arkansas +) EST, 8945 ae ang 
_ Kansas 360, 472 4.9|45 North Carolina 188,781 18.5 
Wisconsin 524,104 5.0146 South Carolina 110,535 15.2. 
_ Arizona 62,281  5.3|47 New Mexico... ity 278 ea 
3 NewJersey 585,729 5.3) 48 Mississippi... , 48,234 37.1 . 


2) SBGd ay 


